Step 9: Forget That it's There...

Step 1: What You'll Need

Book
Good sized "L" Bracket
Carpet Knife
Pen
Small wood screws (of the flat headed variety)
Large wood screws
Tape Measure or Ruler
Glue
A Stack of Books for Weight

A friend at work gave me a stack of Stephen King books that were collecting dust in his garage. My previous two shelves from the introduction were free books that my public library was trying to get rid of.
Use a book you don't mind never reading again.

Step 2: Measure Twice, Cut Once.

Measure the half way point, make a mark, set down your bracket, draw an outline, measure again, cut out a hole deep enough that the bracket will set flush. You are doing this to the back or bottom of the book, the part that will be visible in the finished product.

Step 3: Don't Put Away the Carpet Knife Yet!

Use your knife to make a notch for the "L" bracket so the book can sit flush against the wall.

Step 4: Screw Stephen King!

...or at least place your small wood screws to secure the "L" bracket in place, and one on either side toward the edges of the book to secure the pages of Stephen Kings book together. Hanging the bracket over the edge of a desk, chair, or counter is helpful. The pages will try to rise up the screw as you insert it, so make sure you're putting some pressure on them to keep them in line. If this part is not done correctly the end result will show the pages as wavy and will tip off the viewer that something is amiss. The picture shows me using a cordless drill, but I found that doing it by hand was much more effective.

Step 5: Glue, and Apply Pressure

The glue will hold the bottom cover of the book in place, and the screws hold the pages together. Put the stack of books on top of the whole deal and wait overnight.

I like the books sitting upright just as well as I like them stacked. Unless you're implementing this idea because you really need more storage space for books, it's a nice way to display a favorite item or two - even to use for no other purpose than to create "artwork" for an empty wall. Probably does need a book or two no matter what its purpose, to maintain the "theme" inspired by the "book" shelf. ;-) I have to comment again on Polymathism's staggered zipper design, too; it's also a very attractive example of mixing it up a bit, by adding a single rather dramatic piece on the uppermost shelf. I love where both of you went with the idea almost as much as I love the instructable!

This is how it should be done, with lots of books, attached lower to the ground. Like this, it's subtle, looking almost as though the books are stacked on the ground, until one inspects further. Good job Artista. With a stack of 6 books in the middle of the wall, it's too 'Disneyland'. People might scratch their heads at it, but in the end of the day you have a stack of 6 books that you don't care about sticking out of your wall.

Here's my attempt. I used some nice, gilded, leatherbound editions of the Homeric epics with just god-awful, rhyming English verse translations. I couldn't stand ever reading them, besides I have better translations and I know ancient Greek anyway, so I don't even need them! HA! In your face, publisher. On to the project, I didn't have a drill, so I couldn't put pilot holes in the pages, but I found that simply placing the screw that holds the pages together more into the center of the page instead of toward the corner, I got less "wrinkle" on the sides. There was still a lot of wrinkle on the edge of the pages, but that faces the wall anyway so there's no problem there. All in all, not a bad first attempt. In fact, this is the first project I'd done with instructables.com. On the plus side, most of my literature is heroic prose or poetry, so the shelves match their contents. Don't ask me why I mounted them like that. Shoulda done the red one a little higher. Awesome Instructable!

I have found some very convincing fake book boxes at TJ Maxx, and thing they would be cool to use for the base book. No sacrificing a real book and a hidden compartment. I know making a book with a compartment is more in the DIY spirit of the site, but you know.